A man's palm slammed against the desk.
"Again?"
The boy flinched, hearing his father's word, his head lowering instinctively.
He had heard that word many times in his life, and each time it was said, it always meant that he would be punished afterward.
After several moments of silence, the man slowly exhaled as he rubbed his temples before looking at his son again. Disgust flashed past his eyes for a brief moment.
'Have I raised a loser of a son? Is this my fault for protecting him too much?' That thought quickly appeared on the father's mind before he dispelled it and spoke in a rather cold tone.
"You got lucky this time since you've been in front of the player management office. Still..." Then his eyes narrowed before he continued.
"But the one who touched you, I'll make sure he at least suffers like he made you suffer. But this will be the last time I ever help you."
The fat kid quickly nodded, not daring to lift his head. As he was about to leave his room, he heard his father's last words to him.
"Your brother and mother were right, I have been too protective of you, and you became weak. Fix this or else..."
Creack...
Right after the door closed, the man leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the armrest.
"Shen, was it?"
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Interesting."
***
"The beginning of martial arts is to sense the spiritual qi around you. Only by sensing the spiritual qi in the world can one enter the skin-refinement stage and start their cultivation journey as a martial artist. If one cannot even sense the spiritual qi , then everything else is mere talk…"
"Skin-refinement, as the name suggests, is about tempering your skin. Once the skin-refinement is complete, your skin would be extremely tough, and normal blades or swords wouldn't harm it. Even if cut, it would only leave a pale mark…"
"As for your strength, there is no need to mention it..."
Shen kept recalling the contents of his cultivation technique under his breath as he finally reached the vital point of how he could sense the spiritual qi!
It should be known that if this were any cultivation techniques, he would be unable to recover his cultivation base, but the manual he was currently recalling had a different way that was more suitable for his situation...
After all, his cultivation technique was of the Heaven's rank! It's suitablity towards different body types, and injuries inside one's body could be seen just by that alone.
"Establish a good horse stance. Adjust your breathing, calm your mind, focus on the Dantian, and feel your own spiritual qi…"
Shen adopted a horse stance. Under the guidance of the manual, he adjusted his breathing accordingly and started sensing the spiritual qi around him.
Shen, who had been practicing his stance for a couple of hours, was shaking beyond his own capabilities, and the bit of strength inside his body was about to give up.
A while later, Shen couldn't hold on any longer and began to rest, his heart fiercly beating inside of his chest that you could even see his chest moving out and in.
His face was red, and sweat covered his entire body from head to toe.
This was already his third break in just a couple of hours, and Shen felt that the world was spinning around him.
Taking a breath of fresh air, Shen slightly calmed the dizziness assaulting his mind and thought about his cultivation technique.
'The Thousand Might cultivation technique is truly the most suitable for my current station, as for my main cultivation technique? I'll switch to it later; it should be effortless with the right resources.' He thought as he slightly moved his hands, sounds of bones cracking could be heard each time he moved a muscle.
'Mages and all other paths in existence focus on the mind while I, on the first realm, have to focus on the body; if I'm not mistaken, the path's in this world shouldn't be any different.'
He had more or less guessed why people never expanded more into the berserker path. If he wasn't mistaken, it was mainly due to the fact of the slower progression and more importantly...the lack of cultivation guidance.
Martil artists even in the Murim world had one fatal problem...they didn't cultivate the first step which is to strenghen one's internal body before entering the qi refining stage. Each and everyone martial artists always started with qi refining, hence their foundation, although looking strong, Shen's strenght was world's apart from them.
With that thought in mind, Shen went back to his horse stance.
He stood in that state for a couple of minutes before his mind went blank and he entered a state of deep cultivation.
He saw nothing, yet he felt like the whole world was laid before him.
'Spiritual Qi, it is ethereal and is around all of us, but also seeps through our pores and resides within the body, flowing throughout. How do I sense it? How do I mobilize it? it's all about comprehension, intention, and not the form…"
Shen continued to sense his Spiritual Qi, but besides feeling the soreness in his legs from maintaining the horse stance, he couldn't sense any Spiritual Qi at all.
However, despite all of that, his mind didn't wander and kept his focus without moving an inch from his spot.
Shen ended his horse stance, the frustration evident in his eyes as he felt slightly dispirited.
'This is way too slow, with my experience, sensing Spiritual Qi should have been done in an hour at most, yet even after hours, I couldn't sense anything.
Feeling something was amiss, he couldn't help but ask his system," Is there a difference between the quality of Spiritual Qi on earth and Murim?"